Dragon's eye is now on Bhutan, showing its claim on this part

Thimphu, Ta. 30 June 2020, Tuesday

Chuncha China’s eye is now on Bhutan and it has laid claim to a new land in Bhutan. During the 58th meeting of the Global Environment Facility Council, Beijing opposed the funding of Bhutan's Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, calling it disputed. However, Bhutan has strongly opposed China's move. According to Bhutan, the land of the sanctuary has always been and will remain his.

Although China claims the land to be disputed, the reality is that there has never been a dispute over the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary land. In fact, there is no demarcation between Bhutan and China so Beijing is in a position to take advantage of it. Bhutan has given a scathing response to China's move. He made it clear to the Chinese envoy that the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary is an integral and universal part of Bhutan. It is worth noting that the Sakteng Sanctuary has never been a part of global funding.

When the sanctuary first came to the fore in the international arena as a project, China had staked its claim on land grabbing to take advantage of the opportunity. However, despite China's opposition, the project has been approved by a majority of council members. China has a representative in the council but Bhutan has no direct representative of its own. It was headed by Aparna Subramaniam, a senior IAS officer from India who is in charge of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka at the World Bank.

Earlier on June 2, when the projects were being discussed, Zhongjing Wang, the Chinese representative of the council, expressed his displeasure over the Bhutanese project. At the time, Aparna Subramani said the claim could be challenged and it was not appropriate to proceed without an explanation from Bhutan. The issue was discussed at the meeting and a majority of members approved the Bhutanese project despite opposition from China.